Sparta dog a winner at Westminster

Photo by Daniel Freel/New Jersey Herald
Jessica Ajoux, of Sparta, holds her border collie Fame(US) after running through an obstacle course at Bauman's Dogdome dog training center in Wantage recently. Fame and Ajoux won the Westminster Masters agility championship at New York's Madison Square Garden. A video of Fame can be viewed at www.njherald.com. .

SPARTA -- With the name Fame(US), it was almost inevitable that the 7 1/2-year-old border collie was going to have a little star quality in her system.

Fame may have the look of a celebrity dog -- her sleek black-and-white coat, black freckles across her muzzle and fluffy ears are undeniably adorable -- but it's her quick-as-lightning speed and agile form that set her apart from other dogs.

On Feb. 10 in front of dozens of cameras and hundreds of faces, Fame and her handler, Sparta resident Jessica Ajoux, streaked their way to the title of Masters Agility Champion at the 2018 Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Pier 94 in New York.

The coveted title is much different from the traditional breed show, which dates back to 1875, in that it awards a winner based on the ability of a dog and handler to work together to complete a variety of obstacles in a race against the clock.

The event places sport over swagger, requiring a great deal of conditioning, concentration, training, and teamwork, according to the Westminster Kennel Club.

In the competition, which aired on Fox 5 New York, Fame's so-quick-you'll-miss-it run that led to her win caused the audience to stand up and energized the commentators, who called Ajoux and Fame "true partners." The duo crushed the competition in the 20-inch division with a time of 29:53, beating out 29 other dogs.

The competition is only one of two events at Westminster that is open to mixed-breed dogs and involves a total of five height divisons. Fame nabbed the win in her division and beat P!nk, a border collie in the 16-inch division, who received a time of 29:78.

They were also true partners earlier this month inside Bauman's Dogdome, a dog training facility in Wantage, where Fame had eyes only for Ajoux as the duo practiced various obstacles, including the seesaw, tunnel, dog walk, A-frame, and the weave poles in preparation for the AKC Nationals competition in Nevada later this month.

Fame aced her obstacles years ago -- Ajoux said most training is done when dogs are 3 or 4 -- and now refreshes her memory during short sessions with Ajoux twice a week. Ajoux also focuses on Fame's conditioning.

"(Conditioning) is our main focus; we do exercises geared toward strengthening the core and muscles in the back, such as hiking, but I'm not teaching her anything new," Ajoux said. "My focus is keeping her in shape and staying sharp."

Ajoux, an agility trainer for Ready Go Agility at Bauman's Dogdome, takes Fame for regular check-ups to Advanced Canine Rehabilitation in Warren, N.J. -- the best canine physical therapist in the country, she says.

"When you are going over six yards in a second, it's not easy on their bodies, you have to take good care of them," Ajoux said, comparing it to athletes taking care of their own bodies.

Therapists work on Fame's "hot spots," but luckily, she had never had any serious, side-lining injuries.

In April 2017, Ajoux was traveling in Sparta with her dogs crated in the back of her Ford Explorer when her vehicle was struck head-on by a car.

Ajoux suffered a broken neck and had to take time off from training, and continues to have ongoing pain, but her dogs were OK.

"I'm lucky to be alive and doing agility still," Ajoux said, pointing to the obstacle course inside the dome, adding, "I almost lost all of this and I'm still super thankful to keep doing it."

Ajoux was a teenager in her southern California hometown when she grew interested in agility training after watching competitions on TV.

"My parents probably thought I was crazy, but they humored me and got me a mixed-breed dog from the pound named Mocha," Ajoux said.

At the age of 15, Ajoux began training Mocha in agility classes and it became a passion that "just never went away," Ajoux said.

After graduation, Ajoux moved to New Jersey after receiving acceptance to Princeton University, studying psychology and competing on the Division I water polo team.

She met with various animal trainers during her time in college and met Diane Bauman, owner of Bauman's Dogdome, who brought her to her Wantage facility and showed her the "art of teaching," Ajoux said.

After graduating in 2007, everything "fell into place" and Ajoux went on to make her hobby into a full-time career.

Fame came to Ajoux in 2010 from a breeder in Jackson, N.J., and the two instantly became close, but she was a challenge.

Her demeanor is rather challenging, Ajoux said, since she's "quite high strung and emotional."

"When she's in drive, she's very high. It has not been easy. I had to learn how to help her learn things without panicking," Ajoux said. "She's going so quickly, I had to be perfect with my cues and signals, which has taken me a while."

Luckily with Fame's athleticism and Ajoux's ability to meet Fame on the same energy level, the duo make a great pair.

"Our teamwork together is fantastic; I adore this dog, we adore training together. We are a really, really good team," she said. "She is exactly my type of dog and I hope she would say that I am exactly her type of person."

With a $10,000 donation in Fame's name to an American Kennel Club dog obedience club in California and a big ribbon after her Westminster win, Ajoux is excited to move onto the Nationals Agility Competition and even some international competition this summer.

Fame and Ajoux will be representing Team USA in May at the World Agility Open in the Netherlands and in July at the European Open in Vienna, Austria.

"With competition, it takes a little bit of luck and last year, I spent a lot of it," Ajoux said, referring to her car accident. "The fact that I am still alive and able to do this is really amazing."

Lori Comstock can also be reached on Twitter: @LoriComstockNJH, on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/LoriComstockNJH or by phone: 973-383-1194.